Conservative Protestantism and Premillineal Dispensationalism

The United States is home to an array of modern religious interpretations. To exercise free religion is parallel to being American; it is ingrained in American identity. Even today we can look to American history and trace our own religious views. However, religion in America is not as simple as being Christian or not Christian. Rather, we find that within many denominations there lie a number of sects with their own distinct views. My grandmother is a part of the evangelical movement here in the United States. Her development as a Pentecostal Christian is a product of evangelicalism and the ideas that spread within the effort, ideas that support contraction, such as the contemporary theory of premillennial dispensationalism.

Evangelicalism, like other religious movements, acquired man new facets over the past two centuries. To evangelize is “to gospel the masses, to bring them the New Testament Word”¹. Evangelists seek to spread protestant ideas and convert those who do not follow New Testament; they exemplify the mission mind at work. Revivalism during the Second Great Awakening was a solid foundation for what evangelicalism is today. Leaders such as Charles Grandison Finney spread the gospel to a variety of social groups, including women and even African Americans. Finney moved away from the formal style of preaching that dominated his era to a more direct and personal style that called forward people of conviction². My Grandmother owns her own church and preaches at every sermon and on every Wednesday she preaches in a new environment just as Finney would have done. Also, she does mission work in Africa annually where she spreads the word God to those who have never heard the New Testament. She is the epitome of Evangelism, moreover, conservative evangelism.

            Religious contraction is present in conservative protestant communities. Contraction is the process of returning to the roots of ones religion. Within Protestantism, fundamentalist are the prevailing example of contraction. They focus on ideas such as the coming of Jesus, and being saved. Most importantly, these followers of contraction have an avid mission mind and seek to convert non-followers of the New Testament.³ Pentecostals also follow this strict adherence to the bible. They believe in the idea of “full gospel”: Jesus saves-John 3:16; heals-James 5:15, Baptizes with the holy spirit-Acts 2:4 and will return to receive all of those who are saved-Thessalonians 4:16-17.⁴ My grandmother strictly abides by each of these beliefs and even uses her own body as a vessel to heal those in her church. She does not follow liberal Protestantism; instead she contracted lives her life strictly by the bible.

Another idea that plays a prominent role in my grandmother’s religion is premillennial dispensationalism. Premillennial dispensationalism offers a way to interpret the bible in a futuristic manner. Still, it is considered conservative because it adheres to the book of revelations. Only instead of interpreting the book as an account of the past they use the book to interpret the future. John Nelson Darby first introduced the idea in the 19^th century. Dispensations are specific time periods concerning Christ and his return.⁵ According to premillennial dispensationalists, there will be a dark era where many religious leaders will abandon their beliefs. Efforts will be made to end the dark age but none will be capable of stopping the ultimate demise. There will be a rapture of the church but all who are not saved will remain on earth where an antichrist will rule. Eventually god will come and defeat Satan and save all who accept him as their lord.⁶ My grandmother was sure to make me watch the Left Behind movies when I was only a boy. These were movies about the rapture and are actually mentioned by Albanese in her book Religions and Religion. Gloria is a firm believer in the rapture and the prophecy of an anti Christ.

Gloria Murphy is much more than a protestant. We can further examine her religion by looking to the central ideas that define her religion. Most prevalent is her evangelical background. Nevertheless, her religion cannot be described as simply Evangelical. She is a conservative evangelical who practices contraction over expansion. Furthermore, she has her own personal belief in premillennial dispensationalism, an idea not followed by all evangelicals.

 ¹ Catherine Albanese, America, religions and religion, (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Co, 1992), 115.

² Hambrick Stowe, Charles G. Finney and the Spirit of American Evangelicalism, (Grand Rapids Michigan: W.B. Eardmans , 1996), 76.

³ Maltby Paul, Christian Fundamentalism and the Culture of Disenchantment , (Charlottesville : Virginia Press, 2013), 28.

⁴ Handbook of Pentecostal Christianity, (Dekalb: Northern Illinois Printing Press, 2012), 43.

⁵ Clarence Bass, Backgrounds to Dispensationalism, (Grand Rapids Michigan: Baker Book House , 1960), 33.

⁶ Clarence Bass, Backgrounds to Dispensationalism, (Grand Rapids Michigan: Baker Book House , 1960), 56.